LONDON (Alliance News) - InfraStrata PLC Tuesday said it has enough funds to last until the end of 2016 and said drilling onshore Northern Ireland is expected to begin in May as the company also tries to monetise its interest in a gas storage project in the country.
The independent petroleum exploration and gas storage company reported a pretax loss of GBP254,782 in the six months to January 31, narrower than the GBP599,048 loss booked a year earlier after several costs were materially lower in the period.
Total administrative expenses in the period fell to GBP263,429 from GBP582,768 after being boosted by a GBP156,466 gain from the sale of its exploration assets, which was not present the year before.
InfraStrata is expecting to secure more funds related to the sale of some of its exploration assets before May, and the company also secured GBP500,000 after the end of the first half as part of a data sharing agreement.
InfraStrata divested most of its exploration assets late last year and is now focused on monetising its 65% interest in the Islandmagee gas storage project in Northern Ireland and on drilling the Woodburn Firest-1 exploration well on its onshore licence in the country.
The company has completed the feasibility stage of the gas storage project and is now working toward the front-end engineering and design work to take the project to the point where contracts for construction could be awarded.
To date, over GBP11.0 million has been invested into the project.
InfraStrata said it has it has appointed advisers to help deliver new investment into the project, which would result in a "monetisation of all or part of the group's interest in the project as soon as practicable," the company said.
It has opened up a dataroom to allow interested parties to view the details of the project.
At the onshore exploration project in Northern Ireland, the company said drilling is expected to begin in May. The Woodburn Forest-1 well has been funded through a series of farmout agreements concluded in January 2016 and all the consents have been secured.
InfraStrata will retain a 10% stake in the onshore licence and is fully carried on the costs of the well.
The company said it is sufficiently funded through until the end of this year, reporting a cash balance of just over GBP1.0 million and net working capital of GBP314,859.
"We are delighted with the successful funding of our 2016 work programmes enabling us to concentrate upon securing value for our interest in the Islandmagee gas storage project in addition to drilling of the Woodburn Forest-1 exploration well," Chairman Ken Ratcliff.
"The successful funding of the group's operations for the year and the successful farmout of the Woodburn Forest-1 well have been achieved in extremely challenging market conditions. We now have the opportunity to realise value for shareholders from these projects and our challenge during the remainder of 2016 is to ensure that these activities progress as swiftly as possible," he added.
InfraStrata shares were trading up 15% to 1.90 pence per share on Tuesday morning.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
Copyright 2016 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
